Technology has opened up many solutions and tools that allow the average to dabble in graphic design. Many would agree there is one online design tool that is increasingly more popular than the rest – Canva. And with multiple Canva alternatives, creating beautiful designs is not just for the professionals.
According to Adobe research, 59% of global consumers prefer beautiful design over the simple elementary design before they choose to engage with a brand. This has driven up the demand for graphic design cloud-based software and the need to have it readily available.
Canva’s graphic design platform has revolutionised how we create various types of creative content, such as social media images, infographics, shirt design templates, media images, and more. Canva’s mobile app for iPhone, iPad and mobile phones with Android are also available for download via the Apple Store and Google Play, letting users create free artwork even without access to their computers.
You don’t even need to be an expert or study graphic design to get stunning results. Many graphic professionals, business owners, freelancers, and entrepreneurs are raving about this graphic tool including Candy Bigwood, Mobile Art Director at The Huffington Post. Giving a user’s perspective, she said, “There are no design skills required or costly program downloads that have to go through approvals. Results are instantaneous.”
However, Canva has a number of limitations that tend to be an issue to some of its users. Image editing options are still limited compared to other editors. Its resize feature is only available for premium users and if you want to use some of the better-looking images in their library, you have to pay for them.
So if you are a fan of this free image creator, but are looking for websites like Canva online with better or comparable features, Stock Photo Secrets have compiled 18 of the top graphic design websites Canva alternatives and apps like Canva.
19 of the Top Graphic Design Websites Canva Alternatives:
Crello
With 60 million photos, 11,000 templates and 33 design formats, Crello boasts a large gallery of design elements to help graphic designers create beautiful images for social media images, ad banners, email headers, posters, and other graphic tasks.
Launched by Depositphotos, this visual editor makes graphic design easy even for beginners who need design software for their creative projects. Its free and ready-made templates can help users create stunning images for all sorts of use.
Plus, Crello has recently launched a free iOS app for an easy and intuitive graphic design experience on the go, especially if you’re looking for apps like canva. The Canva support is also very good. Start today and use Crello´s free version.
Ideal for: digital marketers and bloggers who need inspiration when creating posts for social networks.
back to menu ↑Fotor
Whether you need to edit a photo, create a collage or design an image for a blog post, Fotor will provide you with an easy-to-use platform and with their drag and drop feature taking just a few clicks. For newbies and experts alike, Fotor also provides a library of short video tutorials and articles and a collage maker.
There are also thousands of professionally-designed templates ideal for various social media channels, like Instagram posts, Facebook covers, Youtube banners and more. For creating designs on the go, Fotor’s mobile graphics design app is also available for download on the Apple Store and Google Play.
Ideal for: photographers who need to do some photo editing, this online design tool features HDR photography technology and photo retouching kit.
back to menu ↑RelayThat
No need for artistic skills here. With RelayThat, you can make use of thousands of auto-generated visuals using their library, all of which you are free to resize and remix. This top-rated digital asset management (DAM) and design platform lets you collaborate with your team and clients to create the perfect graphic designs for your needs.
You can also work with their concierge team to import brand assets and send messages through a custom portal. Using RelayThat’s smart layouts, you can create different designs that stick to your brand and are optimised to suit various channels.
Ideal for: startup businesses and small business owner who don’t have graphic designers inhouse to help with their projects.
back to menu ↑Easel.ly
Easily convert and visualise various ideas by turning them into stunning infographics with Easel.ly. This simple infographic maker can help you turn any wordy content or complex process into a beautiful and easy-to-understand graphics.
This tool is perfect for agencies who regularly create reports for their clients. It offers a wide selection of pre-made templates for creating infographics for timelines, processes, resumes, comparisons, reports and more. Easelly has a free version with a few basic features.
Ideal for: creating reports, presentations, resumes or even as an image for your blogs, this graphic design software will make it easy for you to capture your audience’s attention.
back to menu ↑Visme
Visme
offers more than 500 beautiful templates and colour schemes, millions of photos, hundreds of custom fonts and thousands of icons to help you create presentations, infographics, social media posts, and more. You can also add interactive charts, maps, videos and audios to your designs to help you get your message across to your audience.
Ideal for: SMBs and startups who are pitching new projects.
back to menu ↑BeFunky
This all-in-one graphic design software provides its users with a seamless workflow for editing photos, making collages and designing graphics. With BeFunky, you can turn photos into art, edit photos by batch, create transparent backgrounds, and retouch portraits.
Its suite of powerful graphic design tools include loads of customizable design templates, over a million free stock images and thousands of icons and vector graphics. The BeFunky mobile app also provides a selection of editing tools such as photo effects and collage templates. Available for both iOS and Android mobile users.
Ideal for: amateur photographers who need to edit their photos.
back to menu ↑Adobe Spark
For impactful designs that are made effortlessly, Adobe Spark is another easy to use platform that lets you create images in a matter of minutes. This is ideal for graphic designers who are already familiar with the Adobe suite of tools.
Available on the web or on mobile, this platform offers three mobile apps: Spark Post for creating social images, Spark Page for designing web pages, and Spark Video for creating short videos in minutes. These mobile apps are available on Google Play and Apple Store. Adobe Spark offers a free plan that allows you to use some free templates.
back to menu ↑Pixlr
Pixlr
offers users a faster and smarter platform for editing photos. It features easy-to-navigate photo editing tools that let you adjust, draw, retouch, apply filters and other elements on your images for a more artistic take on sharing photos.
You can easily crop or resize photos and even remove background easily. Pixlr is available both on the web or mobile, with the mobile app available for download via Google Play and Apple Store.
Ideal for: pro and amateur photographers who need to add a bit of TLC to their photos.
back to menu ↑Infogram
This intuitive visualisation tool lets individual users and teams create beautiful infographics, reports, charts, maps and more. Infogram gives its users access to a large collection of designer templates.
They also provide custom templates to help brands stick to their design guidelines that meet the (brand) colours, fonts and logos defined for a specific brand. Object animations, interactive charts and maps will help you create better visual content that your audience will admire.
With Infogram, you can also collaborate with your team and view or restore previous versions without the stress. And if you want to keep track of the performance of your content, Infogram will make that easy for you with its analytics feature. Also Infogram offers a free plan with some 37+ interactive charts types among other things.
Ideal for: must-have for startups and digital marketers who are promoting blog content online.
back to menu ↑FotoJet
For powerful design and editing tools for creating photo collages, Instagram stories and email headers, FotoJet is the way to go. Its template-based approach to creating various graphic designs will help even a beginner level designer to create professional-looking images.
This simple photo editor also lets you add text or effects to photos, as well as crop, resize, and enhance images for a more artistic image that is worth sharing with the world. Also FotoJet has a free basic version with features such as editing tools, fonts, photo effects among others.
Ideal for: Fotojet is perfect for amateur graphic designers who need a helping hand.
11. Pablo by Buffer
Pablo
is a quick and easy-to-use online design tool that provides users with the ability to add text or logo to social media images.
Its simple editing interface is very easy to use but only offers limited options in terms of effects, formats, and fonts and font sizes and colours. This gives its users fewer choices to concern themselves about and therefore spend less time creating social media graphics.
Ideal for: a fan favourite with startups, this tool is great for teams who have limited graphic design resources.
back to menu ↑Easil
Let your graphic arts come to life with this easy to use graphic design software. Easil offers thousands of fully customisable templates for creating social web posts, posters, infographics, banners, business cards, menus and more.
These high-quality templates can be resized to suit your needs. Its text effect tools allow you to be more creative with text to help make your images pop! Easil Plus Plan lets you save custom colour palettes, logos, fonts, and images with Brand Kit.
Brand Kit also provides users with the opportunity to create exclusive brand templates that can be shared with your team.
Ideal for: Perfect for digital marketers and social web marketing teams who collaborate.
back to menu ↑Stencil
If you are looking for online graphic design cloud based software that provides users with flexibility and a large selection of features, then Stencil is a great choice. With more than 2 million photos, icons and graphics to use, you can create a variety of images for different purposes.
This platform will let you upload your own fonts and logos to give you more opportunities to personalise your designs. If you want to create quotes to share online, you can browse through more 100,000 quotes in Stencil’s library.
Improve your images using image filters, resize them instantly, share directly to Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, or schedule your posts via Buffer. This free image creator is fast and easy to use and can also be used as a Chrome or Safari extension and a Firefox Add-on.
Ideal for: a must-have for digital marketing and social media agencies who are creating and posting social media content on behalf of their clients. Stencil is an important player.
back to menu ↑Snappa
Perfect for creating images for social media and blog posts, Snappa is an easy-to-use online design tool that also gives you the option to instantly share your freshly designed graphics to various social web platforms or connect your Snappa account with Buffer and easily schedule your posts.
You have free access to more than 1 million stock images, 200+ fonts and more than 100,000 vectors and shapes available in Snappa’s library to create beautiful images. With Snappa’s preset dimensions and thousands of pre-made templates, you can easily create impactful posts images that are sure to gain your audience’s attention.
Ideal for: Another awesome tool for amateur graphic designers and social media marketers, especially in SMBs and startups.
back to menu ↑DesignBold
Incorporating the simplicity of the drag-and-drop interface and the ease of using keyboard shortcuts, DesignBold lets you create stunning images effortlessly and in no time at all. Whether you’re a beginner or an expert graphic designer, DesignBold will give you the opportunity to create share-worthy photos using preset filters or by using the platform’s advanced photo editing tools.
You are free to use DesignBold’s growing resources including millions of images, hundreds of fonts, a vast collection of layouts and more than 50 document formats. This platform also makes it easy for users to save designs to Dropbox.
Ideal for: graphic designers of all skill levels.
back to menu ↑PiktoChart
With a wide selection of professionally-designed templates, an intuitive drag-and-drop editor and a platform that’s designed for team collaborations, PiktoChart makes collaborative graphic design easy.
With more than 800 templates to choose from, you can easily create infographics, presentations, posters and flyers for different purposes. You can add images, animated icons, interactive charts, and videos for more eye-catching designs that you can simply print or directly share online.
Ideal for: A perfect solution for graphic design teams with limited resources.
back to menu ↑Desygner
No matter how inexperienced you are in creating artwork, this online design tool will let you create beautiful images for your social media posts, presentations, ads, flyers, and more. With Desygner’s iOS and Android apps, you can create graphics anytime, anywhere.
You can simply change images, fonts, colours and texts, as well as work with layers, effects and multiple-page files. With millions of images, thousands of icons and shapes, and hundreds of pre-made banners and fonts, all royalty-free, you won’t have to worry about finding the right elements for your designs.
Once your design is ready, you can share it via email and various social media platforms, use it for your presentation, or download a high-resolution copy of the design for printing.
Ideal for: amateur graphic designers who have limited resources
back to menu ↑Placeit
Whether you need shirt design mockups, logo or video templates, text animations or social web posts, Placeit has you covered. With a choice of monthly or annual membership, you get to have access to the vast selection of design resources that they have available.
Apart from having the biggest library of mockups online, they also provide users with an easy-to-use, drag-and-drop platform for creating beautiful designs for all sorts of prints and posts.
Placeit also provides flexible templates for video slideshows, ads and social media posts to help you create unique visual content for sharing and printing. Looking for the perfect logo for your brand? Placeit can help you with that! With thousands of options available, and more designs being added each week, you are sure to find the logo that is right for your business.
Ideal for: ecommerce brands who sell creative designs or personalised prints.
back to menu ↑PixTeller
This free online photo and animation maker will let you easily create various designs and animations that will suit your needs. With more than 1.5 million photos, 134,000 templates, 100,000+ shapes, and 158+ animations, you are sure to find the perfect elements for any type of design.
You can easily create images with different gradients and transparent backgrounds, create quick animations using the PixTeller Animation Timeline, or even automatically create images and video layouts through PixBot.
Ideal for: This is a perfect solution for social media marketers that want to spice up their social media posts.
In conclusion, no matter what your purpose is in creating graphic designs, there is more than one way for you to achieve the design goals that you have in mind. With the design sites like Canva listed above, you will soon find the perfect online design tool that suits your needs and preferences.
If you’re not sure where to start here are some of our go-to best Canva alternatives: Crello is the perfect solution for anyone who isn’t confident with graphic arts, and has the power to make amateur work look professional. Fotor has a user-friendly platform with lots of helpful tutorial videos. Relaythat is great for teams that need to collaborate either internally or with their clients.
Looking for images to use in Canva projects or alternative sites, use our discount codes to get massive reductions in your stock photo purchases from world-class stock agencies.
Maybe we missed one of your favorite tools? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
